


drunk on holy water

by DrowningInStarlight



Category: Campaign (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Flying, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Imprisonment, Jonnit Week, Roleswap (kind of), jonnit has wings!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:28:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29943804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrowningInStarlight/pseuds/DrowningInStarlight
Summary: Flying is like breathing. Jonnit doesn’t know how he ever lived without it.
Relationships: Gable & Jonnit Kessler & Travis Matagot
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9
Collections: Jonnit Week 2021





	drunk on holy water

**Author's Note:**

> happy jonnit week!!! 
> 
> title from holy water by normandie, thanks for the rec liam <3

_“Jonnit, hold on to me,” Gable says, as they teeter on the edge of the deck of the Uhuru. The sky looks huge below them, filled with light, swirling cloud._

_“I’m fine, Gable,” Jonnit says soothingly._

_“Not— I know you’re fine, it’s. For me,” Gable admits, and Jonnit realises their hands are white knuckled on the siderail._

_Travis lands on their other shoulder as a snow white raven. “Coward.”_

_“Hey, you fly all the time! I’m the one who had it taken from me as part of my, you know, whole thing…”_

_“You’re gonna be fine,” Jonnit promises them. “I’ve only been flying for like seven months, but it didn’t take me long to get the hang of it. Just like riding a bike.”_

_“I can’t do that, either,” Gable says pitifully, but they accept Jonnit’s hand._

_“Okay, think of it this way,” Jonnit says. “You’ll get to be in the sky again. I know you miss it. You’ll be able to fly again, Gable!”_

_Gable exhales slowly. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Thank you, Jonnit.”_

_He beams at them. “Follow me,” he says, squeezing their hand once before dropping it and climbing up on the rail. He balances up there for a moment, suspended between the open air and the solid ship, and then with a whoop throws himself into the sky._

— 

Flying is like breathing. Jonnit doesn’t know how he ever lived without it. He doesn’t know how people manage to stay on the ground their whole lives. The sky pulls at him, tugs at his dreams, and he learns it like an old friend. 

He dreams about the moment he touched the feather, over and over. There’s a fear there, quickly replaced by familiarity, warmth. His wings are russet brown, soft and smokey, and he doesn’t know what Orimar Vale sees in him when he’s caught in hiding in the cargo hold of the Uhuru, but whatever it is, it’s enough. Jonnit Kessler stays on the Uhuru. 

He stays in the sky. 

— 

When he first meets Gable, there’s that same feeling, the one he dreams about. The flash of fear, then the recognition, and they give him an awkward little nod while looking like they’re doing their hardest to disappear into the wall, and he decides then and there that he’s going to be friends with them. 

— 

When he first reveals his wings to his friends— the rest of the captain’s council, the new one— Gable looks thunderstruck. Dref looks intrigued, his chin resting on his hand, and Travis keeps looking between Jonnit and Gable with an amused expression. 

“Jonnit,” Gable breathes, “Are you… you can’t be.” 

“Can’t be what?” 

“An… angel.” They twist their fingers nervously. 

“Oh, no,” he explains in a rush, “It was a feather, I touched a feather.” 

“Okay,” Gable says, “Okay, good, because I _am_ an angel. Was.” they swallow hard. “A feather?” 

Jonnit looks at them with wide eyes. “Do you have wings too?” 

They look uncomfortable.

“I have wings,” Travis says idly, “Sometimes.” 

“Not enough to count,” Gable tells him, then looks back to Jonnit. “I… used to. It’s complicated.” 

“You’re f— fallen,” Dref says, and Travis rolls his eyes. 

“Thanks, Doctor Obvious,” he says. 

“Will you be quiet?” Gable says, pushing him in the shoulder. He lets himself be pushed out of his leaning position against the wall and comes to lean at the table next to Jonnit instead. “A feather, Jonnit?” Gable adds.

“Yeah,” Jonnit says, “It happened back home, uh, back in Akaron, I mean. It’s kind of a long story.”

“Well,” Travis says with a raised eyebrow. “We’re listening.” 

— 

Travis’s hands are completely steady as he picks the lock on the cell door. Travis Matagot does not get shaky hands, no matter how nervous he is. Hell, Travis Matagot does not get _nervous._ This had been part of the plan. Jonnit and Gable infiltrate the Church building during the day, gather as much information as they can, Travis gets them out once night falls. Simple. 

But Travis has had an awful feeling of dread ever since the two of them set off, ever since in their absence he pulled a luminary with his bunny mouth and saw the Butcher. The sun has never taken longer to set. 

He pushes the door open quietly, and is immediately tackled to the ground. This prison is hollowed out from the hills, and the floors down here are thick packed earth. It is not pleasant to be tackled onto. 

“Oh, shit,” the heavy weight sitting on him says, in Jonnit’s voice. “It’s you!” 

“Thank you for the rescue to you to, Jonnit,” Travis manages, and Jonnit gets off him. Travis sits up and dusts himself off, and peers around the cell. It’s hard to see in the dim light, but Jonnit looks dirty and scared and like he’s ready to tackle anyone else who might come through that door, too. Then with another wave of dread, he sees Gable, slumped against the wall in the furthest corner of the cell from the door. Jonnit’s draped his coat over them like he’s trying to hide them in the shadows. Travis goes over and grabs their shoulder, and they barely respond. 

“What _happened?”_ he asks. 

“I have the same question,” a cold voice says from the doorway, and as one Travis and Jonnit turn, shielding Gable behind them. 

It’s a Church official, one Travis doesn’t recognise. A hundred years ago, when the Church was smaller, he could have identified all the prominent members, because recognising the faces kept him alive. Nowadays, things are different. 

Beside him, Jonnit shifts on his feet, bracing himself to fight. Things are _very_ different.

“It is so very unusual to see one of the Fallen, in our time,” the church official says. There are manos lining up behind him now, and Travis has no idea how they’re going to get out of this one.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says. “I just see, well. A child, a tall idiot, and of course, my gracious self.” 

The official doesn’t even look at him. Instead, he looks directly at Jonnit. “Fallen are rare,” he says, and oh boy, Travis doesn’t like that tone at all. “But fledglings are unheard of.” 

Jonnit bristles. “I’m not a fledgling,” he says. “I’m Jonnit Kessler.” 

Then the rest of the crew arrive, and everything is battle and blood and chaos. 

— 

_He spirals out into the endless blue, and behind him he hears a terrified, exhilarated shout as Gable does the same. Then they’re flying, and they’re together, all three of them, and really, that’s what this is all about._

_It’s about the way Jonnit is home._

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr as [drowninginstarlights!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/drowninginstarlights)


End file.
